16. Communion may be given outside Mass on any day and at any hour. It is proper, however, to determine the hours for giving communion, with a view to the conve­nience of the faithful, so that the celebration may take place in a fuller form and with greater spiritual benefit.

In other words, we’re looking at a Communion service or liturgy for the faithful (plural), a celebration that provides the “fuller form,” presumably including music and other ministries. We’ll continue to look at these Communion services outside of Mass in this document.

I suppose it begs the question that if a priest is able to preside at a Communion service, why wouldn’t he just celebrate Mass?

Triduum gets special attention:

Nevertheless:

a) on Holy Thursday, communion may be given only during Mass; communion may be brought to the sick at any hour of the day;

b) on Good Friday communion may be given only during the celebration of the Passion of the Lord; communion may be brought to the sick who cannot participate in the celebra­tion at any hour of the day;

about Todd Flowerday

A Roman Catholic lay person, married (since 1996), with one adopted child (since 2001). I serve a parish in music ministry.

about John Donaghy

John is a lay missionary since 2007 with a parish in western Honduras. Before that he served in campus ministry and social justice ministry in Iowa. His ministry blog is http://hermanojuancito.blogspot.com

He also blogs reflections on the lectionary and saints/heroes/events of the date at http://walktheway.wordpress.com

He'll be a long-term contributor here analyzing the Latin American bishops' document from their 2007 Aparecida Conference.